


cold sheets (where's my love)

by piperreynas



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cupid/Psyche AU, F/F, these girls are gayyyy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-02-24 11:21:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13212684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/piperreynas/pseuds/piperreynas
Summary: annabeth stands cautiously, one hand fumbling for the knife near her foot and in the next breath she's being slammed into the wall by another girl, a knife pressed to her throat. "what the fuck are you doing in my room?" she asks."why don't you move the knife and i'll tell you," annabeth snarls.the other girl laughs. "that won't be happening anytime soon. i generally don't allow intruders choice."annabeth grabs the other girl's wrist. "i'm the intruder?" she asks incredulously. the girl glances at annabeth's wrist and falters a little. she blinks as annabeth breaks free, but doesn't do anything to stop her from moving away.annabeth frowns, following the girl's gaze to her wrist and laughs when she finds zeroes in place of a countdown. "of course," she bites out. she doesn't know whether she should keep laughing or cry.she hears a vague shuffling noise as the other girl moves, and then, "you're my soulmate." she sounds exactly as put-off as annabeth feels..or: annabeth and reyna are soulmates. the gods like to meddle.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [teddyandgriffin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/teddyandgriffin/gifts).
  * Inspired by [night vision](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10596312) by [serendipitiness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/serendipitiness/pseuds/serendipitiness). 



> * written for @softsilentstars for the @wlwpjoexchange  
> 
> * part two to come if i get around to it

annabeth is in her cabin when her timer stops. she doesn't realize at first, too busy trying to figure out where to put all the fucking statues to focus on her timer, but later she wonders how she hadn't noticed; the ticking had been annoying, but it was the only constant in her life.

she's in the process of erasing a stray line when all of a sudden everything goes black. annabeth stands cautiously, one hand fumbling for the knife near her foot and in the next breath she's being slammed into the wall by another girl, a knife pressed to her throat. "what the fuck are you doing in my room?" she asks.

"why don't you move the knife and i'll tell you," annabeth snarls.

the other girl laughs. "that won't be happening anytime soon. i generally don't allow intruders _choice._ " 

annabeth grabs the other girl's wrist. " _i'm_ the intruder?" she asks incredulously. the girl glances at annabeth's wrist and falters a little. she blinks as annabeth breaks free, but doesn't do anything to stop her from moving away.

annabeth frowns, following the girl's gaze to her wrist and laughs when she finds zeroes in place of a countdown. "of course," she bites out. she doesn't know whether she should keep laughing or cry. 

she hears a vague shuffling noise as the other girl moves, and then, "you're my soulmate." she sounds exactly as put-off as annabeth feels. 

annabeth tilts her head up to the ceiling. "fuck you," she says. something swells in her chest, the same something that's been stewing since luke betrayed her, since thalia turned into a fucking tree and came back again, since percy almost died in that stupid maze. she doesn't know which one of the gods she's yelling at; maybe all of them. the sharp crack of thunder filters in from outside and she rolls her eyes. the girl huffs and sits down, back to the wall, while annabeth goes to bed and they stay that way until they fall asleep.

the first thing she does when she wakes up the next morning, bleary eyed, a new cut at the base of her neck, is wrap a strip gauze around the ticker. malcolm blinks when he sees her, then gives her his ' _what the fuck did you do_ ' look and she ignores it, so really nothing's changed.

percy frowns at the gauze but doesn’t press. she gives him a half-smile in silent thanks.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

it happens the next night. the other girl takes one look at annabeth, scoffs, mutters something under her breath in--is that fucking _latin?--_ and then refuses to look at annabeth for the rest of the night. annabeth rolls her eyes and pulls the covers up over her head. just because they're being forced into being around each other doesn't mean they have to interact.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

malcolm stops her the next morning. "we know something's been going on with you," he starts.

annabeth raises an eyebrow. "we?"

"the rest of the cabin." annabeth scoffs. malcolm forges on. "i know your timer stopped last night; percy told us.” she says nothing.

“you don’t have to talk now,” he sighs, resigned. “but we’re here when you’re ready.”

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

annabeth isn't in her cabin the next time it happens. she doesn't know how she knows, maybe it's the distinctive lack of her siblings' snores or the fact that her soulmate is sitting at a desk. she hears paper rustling, a lot of it.

annabeth clears her throat a little awkwardly and the other girl sighs. "i'm reyna," she says. annabeth blinks owlishly. the girl-- _reyna_ \--rolls her eyes, "if we're going to be doing this every night, we should probably learn names," she explains; annabeth sees the moonlight bounce off reyna's hair, her hands.

annabeth blinks again, once, twice. "i'm annabeth," she says finally.

"i knew your name wasn't _gra_ -" she cuts herself off with a cough.

there's a pause and annabeth turns her head curiously. "wasn't what?" reyna doesn't answer. annabeth rolls her eyes and carefully takes a seat in one of the armchairs by reyna’s desk.

"what are those?" annabeth asks. “the papers i mean.”

"paperwork," reyna says. annabeth hears a pencil moving across paper, the scritch-scritching coming in fits and starts.

annabeth huffs. “what for?” the scratching stops and it’s only then that annabeth notices the size of the room they’re in, the way the armchair she’s sitting in feels almost too expensive to touch. “you have a _job_?”

reyna’s laugh hangs in the air like a wrong note. “something like that,” she sighs. annabeth doesn’t say anything more.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

“what’s your thing,” reyna says one day, apropos of nothing.

annabeth blinks. “my thing?”

“like a hobby; painting, writing.” a pause. “river dancing.” it’s moments like these that annabeth wishes they could see each other, not because she’s particularly invested in whether or not reyna lives up to societal beauty standards--she’s never had time for them personally, what with a different monster trying to kill her every week--but because she hates doing this sort of thing by halves. she doesn’t want just reyna’s voice, her touch, she wants to know what color her eyes are, what she looks like when she laughs. she settles for imagining the wry tilt of reyna’s mouth.

“uh,” annabeth says a good three seconds later, something that she regrets when reyna starts guessing.

“is it actually riverdancing?”

“no.”

“karaoke?”

“no.”

“boxing?”

“that’s close, actually,” annabeth says, trying not to let on how embarrassed she is while trying to determine how much she can say without giving away her demigod status.

“cross-stitching?”

“ _what_ \--no! it’s...knives. that’s my thing.” she hears the pencil fall to the floor and annabeth panics because oh _shit_ , reyna _knows_ \--

“you do realize how hot that is right?” reyna says, sounding a bit breathless and annabeth laughs so hard she nearly cries.

.

 

.

 

"i'm pretty sure that it wasn't supposed to go like this," annabeth says a couple days later, watching  the moonlight dance across the ceiling. "meeting you, i mean."

reyna snorts and turns her head. annabeth startles when she feels a lock of reyna's hair on her cheek. "how would you know?" reyna asks.

annabeth rolls her eyes. "you know what i mean."

she sees reyna open her mouth but she doesn't say anything, just hums and moves closer so that her hair falls over annabeth's eyes. "what did you think it would be like?" she asks.

annabeth blushes and shrugs and then kicks herself mentally because they're in the dark how the fuck is she going to see? "you know, the usual." there's a few minutes of expectant silence before annabeth sighs.

"we'd meet someplace nice, like...well i don't know, the beach and we'd lock eyes when our timers gets to zero and then we'd grab a bite-"

"-and then what? we live happily ever after in a small cottage in the woods?" reyna says. she can almost feel reyna’s grin against the apple of her cheek, but there's an edge to her words that rubs annabeth the wrong way. annabeth hates when she does that, acts like they can't be happy just because they aren't normal.

she fumbles for a pillow--she doesn't know what she's going to do with it, but she knows has to do something before reyna drops into a funk--but reyna's squirms out of her reach before she can find one. annabeth climbs on top of the bed and chucks the first pillow she can find in a random direction in the hope that it'll hit reyna when it lands and then she's being pinned to the mattress, reyna's finger digging into her stomach just enough to make her shudder and she laughs into the mattress so hard she almost cries.

after, reyna flops over next to her on the mattress and sighs. "i wish i could stay here forever," reyna says, and she sounds so tired, so sad that annabeth can’t help but grab her hand and hold on, as though she can keep her from disappearing in the morning.

she wakes up to an empty bed.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

she regrets saying it almost as soon the words leave her mouth: “what’s your family like?” they’re sitting next to each other, so close than annabeth can feel the warmth of reyna’s body so she knows exactly when reyna freezes. annabeth backtracks hurriedly: “it’s alright if you don’t want to talk about them. my family’s a mess too.”

she hears reyna inhale shakily. “i...had a sister. _have_ a sister.”

“what happened to her?” annabeth asks tentatively.

reyna shifts next to her. “she took care of me while she was able. and then she had to leave. i haven’t seen her since.”

“my father remarried almost as soon as A--my mother left. my stepmother tries, but it’s just...not enough. i barely ever see my stepbrothers.” annabeth swallows.

“i’m sorry,” reyna says, shuffling closer. “you deserve better.”

annabeth laughs. “you barely know me.”

“i know enough,” reyna says after a long moment.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

“i wish i could see your face.” annabeth doesn’t mean to say it, but she doesn’t regret it, especially after reyna sighs and says, “me too.” reyna pauses. “maybe you can?”

“wha--” she cuts herself off when reyna suddenly grabs her hands and puts them on her forehead.

“go on,” reyna breathes. annabeth’s fingertips move over the ridge of her brow, the curl of her lashes, the soft skin of her cheek. reyna’s breath hitches when annabeth’s thumb finds the corner of her mouth and annabeth stops, pulls away. “that’s what i look like,” reyna says, her voice a little lower than it normally is; annabeth takes comfort in the fact that she isn’t the only one affected by this.

“what do you look like?” reyna says after they’ve had a moment to collect themselves.

annabeth blinks. “average,” she says, shrugging.

“liar,” reyna replies, and annabeth swears she can hear her grin. _i love you_ annabeth thinks, and knows that she has to find her, meddling gods be damned.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

here's the thing about the gods: they're lazy as fuck usually, but when they want something done, they make sure it gets done right.

annabeth tries looking for reyna in every way she knows, even goes so far as to Google her until she realizes she doesn’t even know reyna’s full name and decides that it may be time to ask for help.

malcolm says nothing for a full minute after he’s told. annabeth pokes him in the arm to make sure she hasn’t been venting at a statue for the last twenty minutes and he sighs. “only you,” he says finally, “would piss off the gods so badly that they wouldn’t let you see your own soulmate.”

percy shoots malcolm a glare then sighs. “this isn’t right. it can’t go on.”

annabeth gives him one of her Looks. “i know that. i just...what do i do?”

percy and malcolm exchange looks. “are you sure she’s your soulmate?” malcolm asks.

“ _yes_ ,” she says, thinking of reyna’s hands, her laugh.

percy pulls something out of his hoodie, a rock that seems to glow even in broad daylight. “it’s a flashlight--”

“ _witch_ light,” malcolm interjects, with the tone of someone who has repeated themselves several times. "we got it from the stolls."

" _i_ got it from the stolls," percy says, rolling his eyes before casting a heavy glance her way. “take a look for yourself,” he says quietly, pressing the witchlight into her hands.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

the next night reyna doesn’t visit. annabeth stays awake anyway, watching the rock glow in the corner of room to make sure it won’t suddenly stop working.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

it rains the day annabeth uses it, which is fitting, annabeth muses, considering what happens next. thunder rumbles just as reyna appears in her bedroom; annabeth shrieks and nearly falls off her bed. “fuck my life,” reyna sighs.

annabeth finds that it’s quite hard to laugh when your stomach feels like a zoo. “i...i think i know how to fix this.”

reyna perks up. “what is it?” annabeth feels the mattress dip as reyna sits down in front of her.

“it’s not much. promise you won’t freak out?”

“of course.”

annabeth exhales shakily, pulls the witchlight out of her pocket. she hears reyna suck in a breath as though from far away. her gaze roves over reyna greedily, the high arches of her brow, her nose, her cheekbones. she’s relieved for a half-second, that all of _this_ is over, that she and reyna can finally just _be_ and then the whole room goes dark again.

“you shouldn’t have done that,” she hears. annabeth turns; her head hits the top of the bunkbed but she barely feels it; all she can think about is _reyna_  and _keep reyna safe_. reyna's holding on to her arm so tightly that she can feel it start to go numb; she notes offhandedly that she doesn't remember reyna grabbing it in the first place.

a woman materializes in the corner of the cabin, flickering in and out, wearing a cloak, then a toga, then a dress. “juno,” reyna breathes, at the same time annabeth snarls,

“hera.” annabeth blinks. “you’re a demigod?” she asks, turning to reyna, who just stares, eyes wide.

hera sighs loudly. “if only you had waited,” she says, sweeping her hand over the two of them and annabeth barely has enough time to place her hand over reyna’s before--

.

 

.

 

.

 

annabeth wakes to a cold empty bed, the witchlight clutched in the hand that wasn’t holding reyna. _i’ll find you_ , she swears, blinking back tears as the witchlight pulses in her hand, and maybe it’s wishful thinking but she swears the room feels warmer.


	2. all we have to do is start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took really fucking long and i am so sorry to rey and everyone who's been waiting on this chapter! as you can see, i've added another chapter. it won't be as long as the first two chapters, i just wanted to capture the aftermath and also do a couple outtakes from the future is this version of canon and i may post in a few hours,

it isn’t until annabeth’s eating breakfast that she realizes that she doesn’t know how to go about finding reyna. she decides to wait until her stomach stops tearing itself apart to do anything drastic and tries to spears an egg, sighing; her hand trembles so much that she drops her fork. percy watches from the poseidon table with a frown.

she still doesn’t know reyna’s full name, but she knows more than she did: reyna has dark hair and dark eyes and the hands of a painter. reyna had has a sister. reyna has an office with expensive armchairs and a sort-of job she hates. reyna is a demigod. that’s enough, right?

she goes to grover first. he returns from his first excursion as a newly minted Lord of the Wild three days later looking like he’s been living in a cloud of marijuana smoke. “what the fuck happened to you?” she blurts.

grover blinks slowly. “language,” he says, so softly that annabeth has to strain to hear him.

“ _grover_?” percy says, coming up behind her. he pokes grover warily. grover turns toward him, moving as though he’s suspended in amber. “you okay?”

another blink. “...yes,” says grover, somehow managing to sound as though he’s been contemplating this for eons. “is something wrong?”

annabeth runs a hand through her hair, hopelessly tangled after three days of frenzied training. “i need your help.”

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

grover takes a few minutes to scarf down a few soda cans before he says anything else. somehow, his meal does more for his mental state than thirty minutes of percy attempting to ply him with stories and reed pipe music. “what’s wrong?” he says, far more lucidly than he had been.

“i found my soulmate,” annabeth says, wringing her hands.

“that’s great!” grover beams. “who is it?”

“her name’s reyna.” annabeth hesitates. “she’s a demigod.”

“a _demigod_? are you sure?”

annabeth nods. “the gods wouldn’t let us see each other,” she blurts before she can stop herself, “so i used a witchlight but hera found us and then everything went dark again. i haven’t seen reyna in five days.”

“how do you know she’s a demigod then?”

“reyna recognized her,” annabeth says, running a finger over the zeroes on the inside of her left arm. “called her juno.”

grover frowns. “that’s her roman name isn’t it?” annabeth nods. grover bleats quietly. “chiron will know,” he says finally.

percy places a bracing hand on her shoulder and squeezes. “if reyna’s anything like you, she’ll be fine,” he says quietly.

annabeth exhales shakily and nods. “right.”

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

chiron sighs and shifts uneasily when she tells him. “there is something i haven’t told you.

annabeth frowns and shifts in her chair. she’s noticed that the worrying has made her prone to fidgeting, far more than normal. “is there another prophecy?”

chiron shakes his head. “no, not another prophecy.” his tail twitches. “i...your soulmate referred to hera as juno...because she _saw_ juno.”

“ _please_ stop talking in riddles,” annabeth says, leaning against a wall, and rubbing her eyes. (has she always been this tired?)

chiron clenches and unclenches his jaw. “what i mean to say is, your soulmate is a _roman_ demigod.”

she’s so out of it that it takes a few seconds for that to click, but when it does--”what the _fuck_ ,” she says. her fingernails score half moons into the flesh of her palms. “what--you knew where she was and you kept it from me?” she demands.

chiron sighs. “the matter is far more complicated than it seems.”

“then _un_ complicate it,” she snarls.

chiron shifts his weight. “after the romans conquered the greek empire, they took our gods as their own, as you know. those gods still exist today in tandem with the greek gods, and they too had children who were trained in a different camp. years ago, greek and roman demigods learned of the others’ existence and forged peace but their combined worship became too much for the gods. the discord in olympus led to enmity between the two camps, and lupa and i were forced to make sure that the two camps forgot each other.”

“so where does that leave reyna and i?” annabeth asks, crossing her arms.

chiron smiles sadly. “that, my dear, is the fates’ decision.”

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

aphrodite appears in her room that night. annabeth wakes to a shadow leaning over her and for a second she thinks, _reyna_ , her heart stuttering her chest, until the figure straightens and annabeth realizes that they’re tall, much taller than reyna.

annabeth bolts upright then reaching for the shadow’s arm, but before she can get to them, they’ve reappeared on the other side of the room. “who the fuck are you,” she says, reaching for the dagger under her pillow.

“did no one teach you to respect your elders?” the figure says, tsking and brushing imaginary dust from their bare shoulders. They begin to glow, as if lit from within and annabeth watches as their near-translucent skin turns into a warm brown and their hair darkens from white-blond to black, like reyna.

“aphrodite,” annabeth breathes.

“yes,” the goddess sniffs. “and had circumstances been different, you’d be a pile of ashes right now.”

“bring her back,” annabeth says, stepping closer.

“i could,” aphrodite says, “or you could go get her.”

annabeth inhales. “where is she?”

“california,” she says, before vanishing without another word. annabeth exhales shakily, and for the first time in seven days, she has hope.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

“i’m going on a quest,” she says, throwing open the doors to the big house.

chiron picks up a stack of polaroids and starts leafing through them. “on what grounds?”

she shrugs. “aphrodite appeared in my room and told me to go to california.”

chiron looks up for a half second and sighs, resignedly. “take percy and grover with you,” he says, then when she tries to argue, “take them with you or don’t go.”

annabeth considers this. “fine,” she says, grabbing chiron’s thermos of nectar on her way out.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

it takes very little cajoling to convince percy and grover to come with her. “someone has to make sure you don’t die before you get to her,” percy says, which is fair, actually.

grover packs more food than she’s ever seen in her life. “i’ve learned my lesson,” he bleats, turning away to scarf down a burrito without bothering to clarify. percy spends the day before they leave checking and rechecking their supplies nervously.

they take an uber from the bottom of half blood hill because percy hates airplanes and annabeth hates watching percy in planes.

“be careful,” malcolm says gravely, clasping her fingers so tightly that annabeth thinks he might never let her go.

“we’ll be fine, malcolm,” she says, gently tugging her hands out of his grasp. her brother nods once and steps back.

“we’ll be fine,” percy echoes once they’re in the taxi, voice low. annabeth rests her head on his shoulder and hums.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

she barely sleeps the entire drive over and by the time they get to a her father’s house she’s so wired she can barely sit still. her stepmother doesn’t say anything when she finds them knocking on the door, just purses her lips and steps aside to let them in. her father gets home an hour later and does a double take when he sees them half-asleep on the couch.

“did something happen?” he asks, pressing an empty glass into her hands and casting a wary glance at the garage where he keeps the camel.

“...no,” annabeth says, smiling convincingly. “i’m just meeting up with...someone.”

her father nods absentmindedly and opens another cabinet. elise frowns and opens her mouth to speak, but before she can say anything, annabeth clears her throat and says, “we won’t be here long. they have a place we can stay.”

“don’t be ridiculous annabeth,” elise says, peering at her worriedly, and then hesitantly, “are you sure everything’s alright?”

she pastes on the brightest smile she can muster. “just nervous is all.”

elise blinks and then her eyes widen. “ _oh_. well. that’s perfectly natural in situations like this,” she says, taking the empty glass and handing her a bottle of water. “i’m sure it’ll be fine.”

percy clears his throat awkwardly. “do you...where do we put our things?”

elise startles as though she’s just noticed that annabeth’s brought people with her. grover freezes mid-bite. “there’s a guest bedroom upstairs, next to annabeth’s.” grover smiles awkwardly and finishes the can before trudging upstairs. annabeth follows awkwardly.

her room smells faintly of mothballs; all of her furniture is covered in dust. she sits down on the mattress with a sigh and watches as a small cloud of dust flies into the air..

she feels it dip as percy and grover sit beside her. “you won’t do her any good if you’re half-asleep when you find her,” grover says gently, swallowing.

“i know,” she sighs, “i just--what if something happened to her?”

“we won’t know until we find her,” percy reminds her. “and if you’re going to do that, you need sleep.”

she shrugs. “maybe i should just go roam around some more.”

grover frowns. “by yourself?”

annabeth rolls her eyes. “I’ll take the knife and some of the ambrosia.”

percy and grover exchange looks over her head and sigh. “you’re taking a nap when you come back,” percy says. “i don’t care if i have to fall asleep on you.”

annabeth thinks back to percy drooling in the infirmary post-minotaur and wrinkles her nose. “it won’t come to that.”

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

she walks around the block slowly, trying not to remember the last time she was here, and making a mental list of everywhere she thinks reyna could be. it’s slow going--california is a large state, but not necessarily godly or magical. for a moment she almost believes that aphrodite lied to her, until she remembers mount tam, the way just standing on the mountain had felt dangerous, a step away from being electrocuted.

annabeth spends the rest of her walk smiling at everything like an idiot--potted plants, trees, the concrete sidewalk. _i’m coming_ , she thinks, hoping reyna can hear her somehow.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

her father offers to drive her to mount tam, hands shaking even as they grip the car keys tight enough to break skin. annabeth refuses and takes the bus with percy and grover instead. the nervousness she’d felt on the several cab rides to san francisco is nothing compared to what she feels now.

she can’t stop reliving every single night she’d spent with reyna. the upside of this is that the bus ride passes very quickly; the downside is that now she’s infinitely more afraid of losing reyna, of going to mount tam and finding nothing more than a hulking pile of rock.

she walks out of the bus with the image of reyna’s face washed over in the blinding glow of the witchlight burned into the back of her eyelids. percy takes her hand and holds on tightly as they get off the bus; grover looks over at her every few seconds as if to make sure she’s still there.

mount tam turns out to be nothing more than a hulking pile of rock, but after snooping around for a half an hour, percy finds a door. she moves to go through and percy grabs her arm. “maybe we shouldn’t go in,” he says, staring at the brick wall next to them as though he’s afraid it’s alive.

“it won’t eat us,” annabeth says, rolling her eyes impatiently.

“are you sure?” grover asks, voice trembling.

annabeth tugs her arm free and walks through. percy and grover call after her nervously before sighing and following her, where they find that isn’t a door but a tunnel, that reads to a river and another very large wall.

“holy shit,” annabeth breathes, just as an arrow buries itself into the wall beside her.

“duck!” percy yells, pulling her into a crouch next to him. she hears a whoosh and looks up to see an answering volley of arrows stuck in the brick. “i fucking told you we should’ve waited,” percy hisses.

grover shushes them hurriedly. the arrows stop. “we should probably get them to stop trying to kill us.”

percy hums, and turns to the river. “i’ve got an idea.”

“what--?” he’s standing before she can finish her sentence and then a second later, everything’s gone quiet. annabeth stands to see a wall of water.

“say what you need to, i can’t hold this much longer,” percy says, wincing. the wall falls a few centimeters.

she steps forward and clears her throat awkwardly. the bushes rustle as grover stands slowly. “I uh...desire an audience with your...leader?”

she sees the blobs on the other side of the wall shift and then, “lower this wall.”

“do we get the audience?”

more shifting. “yes.”

percy drops it all at once. the water hits the bedrock at the bottom of the river, then flies into their faces. when annabeth can see again, everyone on both sides of the river is drenched.

a blonde guy holding a staff steps forward. “there’s another tunnel further along the wall that leads directly into our camp,” he says, trying to sound regal, which is hard when all of your clothes are sticking to you and you're also yelling at the top of your lungs.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

their “camp” is a fucking city, a large one at that. the blonde guy leads them down a cobblestone path to what looks like a replica of the parthenon. percy spends the entirety of the walk side-eyeing their tour guide; annabeth studies buildings lining the path--coffee shops and bookstores and even a school. annabeth watches a girl her age scrawling all over a well-worn copy of _the illiad_ , a cup of hot chocolate on the table in front of her and thinks, _i want this_ ; _i want to build this_.

she almost doesn’t notice when they finally reach the house. “here we are,” the blonde guy says, throwing open the doors to a study that looks familiar, somehow, and turning to percy with a million-dollar grin.

percy clears his throat and looks away, flushing. “jason,” says a girl sitting behind a large desk, which is easily the most sizeable piece of furniture in the room, “i don’t have time for your bullshit right now--” she looks up from a stack of paper and cuts herself off as soon as her gaze alights on annabeth.

“reyna,” annabeth breathes.

the girl blinks, then stands slowly, her confusion giving way to a wide grin that annabeth knows is reflected on her own face. “annabeth.”


	3. she's sweet like candy in my veins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> reyna n annabeth are Soft

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ha, i lied its 4 chapters!! ive decided to write about them uniting the two camps and like. Growing as people, which is ironic bc i have. no idea how any of this works lmao and i was originally going to make that a separate fic but i may just make the whole thing one long ass fic. idk. 
> 
> thanks to rey for being wonderful as always! 
> 
> feel free to come yell at me on tumblr @spookyghafas.

the boys clear out almost immediately, jason to go file some more paperwork and percy to go find grover, who’d elected to stay amongst the trees. reyna takes her to the coffee shop she’d spotted earlier to get a hot chocolate (“to share,” reyna had said matter-of-factly, as if she hadn’t imagined doing anything else. it is far too small a gesture to warrant a reaction this dramatic, but annabeth’s heart pounds in her chest nonetheless. her palms are sweaty when she reaches for reyna’s hand; if she notices, she says nothing.) they find a quiet spot at the foot of temple hill, so named because of the temples on the hill. 

“i should’ve come for you,” reyna says, playing with blades of grass and avoiding annabeth’s gaze.

“you couldn’t have known where i was,” annabeth says. her frown slips away in favor of a smile when reyna’s dogs pad over to sniff at her legs.

“but  _ still _ ,” reyna says. there are things they still have to talk about, big things, like how they’re going to do this while they live 3000 miles away from each other or how they’re going to reunite the two camps, and other things like the way reyna never seems to believe in herself no matter how many times her worth is proven to her, the way annabeth’s heart seems fit to burst every time she so much as catches sight of reyna, but that’s for later. now, reyna’s nose is scrunched up, her brows furrowed in an indignance so  _ familiar _ that annabeth can’t help but laugh.

“ _ reyna _ ,” she sing-songs, grinning _ ,  _ in part to watch reyna squirm but mostly just because she  _ can _ .

reyna’s answering pout morphs into a wide grin within seconds. “ _ annabeth _ ,” she says, leaning over to fit her hands into the dip of annabeth’s waist and overbalancing, sending them both tumbling into the grass.

the dogs bark curiously. reyna quickly shifts her weight onto her elbows quickly. her hair falls around their faces like a dark curtain. 

they stare at each other wide-eyed; the glade around them goes quiet and for a split second, all annabeth can see is reyna, haloed by the sun at their back, until the dogs bark again, which sends both of them into inexplicable fits of laughter. 

reyna quiets eventually and rolls them so that they’re both lying on their sides facing each other. she reaches over to tuck a lock of hair behind annabeth’s ear. “i missed you,” she says quietly.

annabeth scoots even closer so that their foreheads touch. “i love you,” she answers.

reyna blinks. “oh.” she shifts a little, uncomfortably. “i can’t...say it back yet.”

annabeth smiles. “i know,” into the apple of reyna’s cheek, and then “it’s okay,” into the hollow of her throat.

reyna exhales, closing her eyes. all the tension leaves her body; she melts into annabeth like butter. “okay.”

“okay,” annabeth breathes, eyes fluttering closed. at some point reyna drapes her praetor’s cloak over the two of them, and that’s how they stay until the sun sets.


	4. i could be your mornin' sunrise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the world keeps turning. everything's fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * this is super messy n rushed and l o n g but it's finally up so. enjoy i guess. srry for the wait!  
> 
> * chapter title from "she keeps me warm" by mary lambert  
> 
> * shoutout to rey for being amazing ily thank you sm for your kind words!!

it gets easier after they find each other, in a way; she doesn't have to second guess herself, nothing's being hidden from her, and yet. sometimes, even something as simple as talking to reyna makes her feel as though she’s on a tightrope, balancing between two extremes.

talking to reyna is relaxing usually, even more so now that they can see each other. after all, conversation is as much about the words you say as the ones you don’t. they reach the other extreme when they’re reminded of everything they have to work out--camp half-blood, hera. them.

annabeth brings up home one day over breakfast; reyna immediately rearranges her expression into one of measured calm. all her words after that are monosyllabic. annabeth turns away with a quiet huff, her stomach twisting. (later, reyna comes up to her clutching two cups of hot-chocolate so tightly that they’re closing to spilling over. “i’m sorry,” she says, setting them down quickly on annabeth’s bedside table in favor of wringing her hands, “i just don’t want you to leave,” ( _i can’t lose you_ ) and annabeth tugs her down onto the mattress with her, presses a kiss into reyna’s dark hair even as her heart breaks.)

it’s fine, _they’re_ fine, even though every time annabeth sees reyna she’s reminded again of how easily this could be torn away from her.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

annabeth spends a lot of time at meetings--IM’s with chiron, senate meetings, praetorial meetings--and as much as she hates them, it’s what she’s used to (although perhaps these are more fraught with tension and formalities than is really warranted.) they would be almost bearable if not for octavian.

just being in his presence makes reyna tense and annabeth, who sits next to her at every single meeting, can’t help but do the same. sometimes she thinks that octavian was simply _made_ to be as unnerving as possible, an amalgamation of the most unsettling traits that could possibly exist in a human being.

“--who knows if we can trust the greeks?”  he’s saying now. the corners of his lips turn up into an unbearably smug grin.

annabeth sees percy lean forward in his chair, which doesn’t bode well--normally, he spends most of these gazing into the distance with glazed eyes. “what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“we only found out about you after you snuck into our camp,” octavian says, casting a sideways glance at annabeth, tone perfectly level.

percy’s eyebrows disappear into his hairline. “i’m pretty sure being invited by a co-leader of said camp is the opposite of sneaking,” he says, voice hard.

“well,” octavian sniffs, “that certainly doesn’t explain why the three of you were found ducking behind bushes.”

“i was looking for my soulmate with my friends,” annabeth snarls. “we were in unknown territory and having arrows fired at us wasn’t exactly a warm fucking welcome.”

“if you have a problem with that, you can talk to me,” reyna interjects, sitting straighter in her chair.

“and me,” jason adds, casting a glance at percy, who looks as though he’s seconds away from bashing octavian’s face in with his fist.

octavian huffs and sinks into his seat. “ _well_.” he sniffs. “there’s no need to be so _rude_.”

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

annabeth stays in new rome for two weeks, which is two weeks longer than anyone was expecting her to stay, least of all herself. chiron IMs her telling her more clothes are being sent to her by one of the hermes kids, but she forgets to tell reyna until he gets there; poor dylan escapes becoming a pincushion by mere seconds.

camp jupiter is, apparently, short on rooms, reyna tells her three days into week one. her lips are pressed into a thin line and her gaze has been glued to the floor for the last ten minutes. she clears her throat. “so, i uh. i think it’s best if you stay here. with me.” her voice goes high at the end of the sentence.

annabeth is so distracted by reyna’s sudden lack of composure that she doesn’t notice the invitation until she’s mentally replayed the conversation twice. “oh. _oh_.”

reyna backtracks hurriedly. “it's fine if you don't want to, i wouldn't want--i mean i’m sure the fifth cohort will make space--”

annabeth takes one of her hands. “i would love to.”

“you’re sure?” reyna asks softly.

“of course.”

reyna ducks her head quickly, but not before annabeth sees her smile. “okay.”

“okay.”

it’s a nice arrangement in theory; she gets goosebumps just thinking about it--waking up to reyna, eagle-spread over her ridiculously expensive sheets in the morning; coming home to see reyna draped over the chaise in her living room, loose-limbed with exhaustion.

in practice, it’s fucking terrifying. the first morning, she wakes to reyna snuffling into the hollow of her throat, half-awake, and has to spend a minute convincing her brain that she isn’t being attacked. every time she tries to move, reyna scoots closer and the hand resting comfortably on her hip wraps further around her back. she spends an hour in the circle of reyna’s arms caught between sinking into the mattress and trying to move away to give reyna some space.

and then reyna wakes up, stretches like a cat and nearly hits annabeth in the face, after which she notices theres another person in bed with her. “hi,” she says, sitting up and slowly breaking into the widest grin annabeth’s ever seen. “i got lonely on the couch.” a pause, and then, “is that okay?”

annabeth looks up at reyna’s hair, now sticking up everywhere, reyna’s hand sitting an inch from annabeth’s on the sheets, that fucking _smile_ and sighs internally. “yes,” she says, pulling reyna back onto the mattress with one hand.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

for all her complaints about the way her time is spent in new rome, she finds herself enjoying her stay quite a bit.

at camp half-blood there had been few true leisure activities; everything there could have technically been defined as an extension of training, and that’s what she had filled her time with there: treatises in ancient greek after breakfast, a race with the dryads before lunch. now, she wanders into town fully intending on getting lost in the shops lining the cobblestone streets and the more she finds, the more she wants this for herself, for percy and grover and clarisse and silena.

it is on one such visit that she finds percy wandering the same streets, grover strangely absent from his side and replaced instead by jason. she doesn’t think much of it until she sees percy’s grin, wider than it’s ever been, and jason’s answering laugh, bright and sweet. percy moves to point out a stall and jason’s gaze lingers on percy for a long second before he follows percy’s finger. she hears snippets of an explanation (“--candle maker...here for as long as i--”) but her gaze alights on the way percy leans into him, gaze unmistakably fixed on jason’s mouth.

they slip around the corner, out of annabeth’s sight, and for a moment she considers following them, making her presence known and demanding an explanation, but then she hears percy laugh, loud and clear even though he’s at least a few yards away from her, and thinks better of it.

she does, however, bring it up when she gets back to reyna’s rooms. reyna merely raises an eyebrow. “i thought you knew,” reyna says, without looking up from the papers laid in front of her.

annabeth cranes her neck in an attempt to read what’s been written and finds that it’s in a near-illegible scrawl, in _latin_ , no less. she huffs and leans back against the headboard. “well. i didn’t.”

reyna hums, smirking. “so i see.” annabeth huffs again, and reyna sobers. “do you disapprove?”

annabeth shakes her head. “no, nothing like that, i just. i’m worried.” she bites her lip. “they live on opposite sides of the country.”

reyna stills for a second, then lets go of the paper to face annabeth. “so do we.”

annabeth smooths out imaginary wrinkles in the sheets. “yeah.”

reyna sighs. “annabeth.”

“what if we didn’t live so far apart?” she says, glancing up at reyna through her lashes.

reyna blinks. “oh?”

“i was thinking of building something for us. all of us, i mean. after olympus, it really shouldn’t be that hard and, well. this place has...problems.”

reyna blinks again. “right. you designed _olympus_.”

annabeth shrugs. “redesigned.”

reyna laughs. “of course.” she pauses, then reaches across the sheets to take annabeth’s hand. “i’ll go anywhere, if you’re coming with me.”

annabeth looks at the sheets now, blushing so hard she’s sure she must look ridiculous. “same, i guess.”

reyna raises both eyebrows. “you _guess_?” annabeth throws a pillow at her.

 

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.

 

.

 

it starts getting weird around week three. percy’s become restless; half his nights are spent gazing out at the wall longingly. grover approaches her cautiously on a wednesday about going back to camp half-blood and annabeth looks to percy, staring resolutely out into the distance, and sighs. she needs her friends, but who is she to begrudge them this?

they leave two days later. annabeth hugs them both on the docks with reyna by her side, glancing warily at the sea. percy grins as annabeth’s brow furrows. “stop worrying,” he says, placing a hand on her shoulder. annabeth sighs and looks to grover, a plea for privacy; grover inclines his head, picking up his part of their luggage and heading down the road to the aqueducts. percy raises an eyebrow. “you good?”

annabeth turns her gaze to the ground. “we...something’s going to...happen.”

percy nods slowly. “right. we’ll be careful”

annabeth nods shortly, clears her throat. “you all packed?” percy blinks, then hums, the corners of his lips quirking up. annabeth turns to jason, who’s watching from farther away with the rest of camp jupiter. “you’ve said your goodbyes?”

percy follows her gaze, frowning, until he locks eyes with jason, upon which his eyes go wide. he turns back to her a few seconds later, blinking owlishly, clears his throat. “yeah,” he croaks, picking his bags up off the ground hurriedly. “see you soon, nerd,” he says, grinning and walking off after grover. the furtive glance he tosses at the cliff on his way doesn’t escape her notice.

 

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.

 

.

 

over the next week or so, all of the cohort leaders at camp jupiter make an unconscious decision to remove octavian from any and all decision making. their meeting spaces become more crowded, but everyone agrees that it’s a small price to pay to escape octavian’s relentless fear-mongering.

the focus of their meetings switch almost immediately to uniting the two camps. “if we attempt to make our presence known, we have to be sure the gods won’t interfere,” reyna says, frowning down at a mess of papers. annabeth is sure that half of them aren’t relevant to the conversation at hand and also that they will remain on reyna’s desk for another month, regardless.

“aphrodite seems in favor,” annabeth says, “hera not so much.”

reyna shakes her head. “juno said we should’ve waited; that doesn’t mean she’s entirely opposed to the idea.”

the room goes quiet, which is when annabeth remembers that the bit about the gods manifesting in their rooms in the middle of the night isn’t common knowledge. annabeth looks to reyna.

“we’ve been having...dreams,” reyna says carefully; not a lie, but not the whole truth either. the senators seem appeased.

“in any case,” jason interjects, “it wouldn’t hurt to try.”

reyna sighs. “very well. jason and i will draft a letter to send to camp half-blood.”

“we’ll come up with a method of transport,” one of the senators supplies.

reyna nods. “octavian cannot know,” she tells them gravely, and all of a sudden annabeth feels like she's living in one of those ridiculous action movies percy likes so much. the senators nod back at her obediently, then file out in a single line.

jason knocks his knee against reyna’s as they leave. “we’ll be fine,” he says softly. annabeth thinks back to percy saying those same words not longer than a week ago. reyna sighs heavily.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

in the end, they don’t have to do anything. a scroll arrives for them several days later, made out of gold that’s been shaped until it’s so thin that it feels almost weightless. they open it to see a boy with curly black and hair and an impish grin waving at them. he starts to rattle off a greeting and the girl next to him (an aphrodite kid, annabeth knows, even though the girl makes every attempt to hide it) rolls her eyes.

“anyway,” she says, with the air of someone who’s had to say this far too many times already. “leo built a giant ship for no fucking reason so we’re coming to visit you soon, if zeus doesn’t blow us out of the sky first.”

“it was _for science_ , beauty queen,” leo says, grinning widely into the camera for effect. “we’ll be there in a week or so. yours in demigodishness and all that. peace out!”

reyna gives the senators instructions to prep the city for their arrival then sequesters herself in their room for the better part of an hour. annabeth enters cautiously. reyna’s jaw clenches when she hears the door creak open. “will you go with them?” she asks.

“yeah,” annabeth says, after a long moment. reyna’s ducks her head in an effort to hide the way her mouth turns down at the corners. “you could come with me?”

reyna looks up, wide-eyed. “do you want me to?”

annabeth huffs, frustrated. “i wouldn’t have asked if i didn’t,” she answers in the gentlest tone she can manage. reyna bites her lip and annabeth sighs; maybe, she thinks, reyna will never understand how wanted she is, but she will spend every last day trying to prove it to her. “stop overthinking this.”

reyna’s nose wrinkles. “i’m not.”

annabeth raises a brow. “if the senators make a fuss, just tell them it’s in their best interests to see the other side. and i talked to frank and genevieve and they said they’d help jason take care of things while we’re gone, so you can stop drafting guard rotations in your head.”

reyna shifts a few papers off the square piece of plywood she sometimes uses as a desk. “i wasn’t,” she insists.

annabeth grins. “yeah okay.”

reyna gives her a nonplussed look and turns away with a sniff. annabeth slinks onto the bed, rolling her eyes and takes her customary spot on reyna’s left side. reyna moves the board a few inches. a few seconds later, annabeth rests her head on reyna’s thigh, feels her stomach rise with her next inhale.

the world keeps turning. they’re fine.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

when the ship--a gorgeous thing, with a made of burnished bronze that’s been polished so it gleams under the light of the midday sun--arrives the next week, new rome welcomes it with an honest-to-god parade.

percy and grover hop off the ladder and promptly get a facefull of rose petals, courtesy of julia, who scampers away as the boys card through their hair. the crowd lets out a small cheer.

“hey nerd,” annabeth says, walking up to them with a grin. she’s been grinning since she stepped out onto the street this morning. percy forgoes a greeting and pulls her into a hug; she can feel him grinning too, into her shoulder.

reyna watches from the sidelines with a half-smile, nodding at grover. “it’s nice to see you both. annabeth’s been pining.” grover tries to stifle a laugh.

“how’ve you been?” annabeth asks, ignoring reyna and pulling away.

percy snorts. “it’s been, like, two weeks, dork.” she cuffs him in the shoulder. he shrugs. “i’ve been fine, i guess. a little bored.” he laughs a little. “for once.”

someone clears their throat. percy startles. “right,” he says, “this is leo--” he points to the boy from the scroll. leo waves. “--he built this ridiculous boat, and this is piper.” piper waves too.

annabeth gives them what she hopes is a warm grin. “it’s nice to meet you,” she says stiffly. reyna purses her lips; the boys cough. annabeth shoots them a glare.

“would you like a tour?” reyna asks smoothly, the corners of her mouth quirking upwards.

leo and piper shrug. “why not,” says piper, walking past them, even as she’s bombarded with more flower petals and streamers.

“find me by the cafe in half an hour?” reyna asks quietly watching leo and piper meander down the street slowly. annabeth hums, raising a hand to let her knuckles skim over the small of reyna’s back before she follows percy up the winding path to temple hill.

when they finally reach the top, percy stops by neptunes dust-covered shrine and turns to her. “you seem better,” he hedges.

“i am,” annabeth answers, warily.

he and grover exchange a look. “if you wanted to stay here, we wouldn’t be mad.”

annabeth frowns. “who told you i wanted to stay here?”

grover bleats. “we just assumed...you’d been here so long, and there’s reyna.”

“so?” annabeth demands. the boys say nothing. she sighs. “i may come back, later. who knows. but for now i’m going back home--to camp--and reyna’s coming with us.”

percy studies her for a few seconds, then nods once. “okay.”

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

the ship is supposed to leave the next morning at eight a.m. it doesn’t actually depart until ten thirty.

reyna wakes up at the crack of dawn and spends the rest of the morning fussing over every little thing she can find. she drives all the senators nuts, and eventually jason has to usher her into a cafe (no small feat, by any means) for the sake of his and everyone else’s sanity.

annabeth finds her at ten, sitting on the patio of their favorite cafe. a sandwich lies on a plate in front of her, untouched, save for the toothpick, which reyna takes out and throws at the pigeons as annabeth approaches.

“you should eat,” she calls, her voice wavering, “we have to leave soon. leo’s getting antsy.”

reyna looks up; the scowl on her face smooths out as soon as she catches sight of annabeth. “can’t,” she says, smiling half-heartedly. “i don’t think i’ll be able to keep it down.”

annabeth inhales quickly. “i don’t want to force you into coming.”

reyna shakes her head. “it’s not that. i meant what i said, earlier.” annabeth waits, takes the seat opposite her silently. “the senators all hate me, you know.”

annabeth frowns. “not _all_ of them, surely.”

“most,” reyna concedes, turning back to the pigeons, who’ve now abandoned reyna’s toothpick in favor of shinier treasure.

“but they helped us.”

reyna hums. “that they did. it seems that everyone hates octavian more than they do me. small miracles.” annabeth says nothing.

“i worked for ten years to get where i did, but nothing i’ve done is ever enough. the senators have been searching for an excuse to get rid of me since the day i was appointed, and this--you, and your friends and their ship--aren’t helping.” annabeth opens her mouth to protest, but reyna only shakes her head again. “i’m not blaming you, i just...when i come back from new york, they will have found a replacement for me.”

annabeth watches reyna’s shoulders fall ever so slightly; her jaw clenches. “so let them.”

reyna blinks. “what?”

“you and jason shouldn’t have to do all of this on your own in the first place; it should be one of them. any problems they have with you are of their own making.”

reyna frowns. “i...hadn’t thought about it that way.”

annabeth laughs bitterly. “of course you didn’t.” she sighs. “we should leave now. we can worry about all of this when we get back.”

“we?”

“we,” annabeth repeats firmly. “and for what it’s worth,” she starts, quietly, reaching across the tabletop for reyna’s hand, “no one could replace you.”

reyna ducks her head quickly; a few locks of hair fall over her eyes. “dork.” annabeth grins, lifting their clasped hands to her mouth, but doesn’t deny it.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

the ship takes off with as much pomp and circumstance as it had arrived to. leo gives them a quick tour so they know where everything is, but they’re all too exhausted to do much more than stand around awkwardly, so after leo’s finished his explanation of the custom pegasi stables, reyna and annabeth make a beeline for the nearest empty bunk.

reyna collapses onto the twin mattress and falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. annabeth climbs in after her with a pad of paper and a pencil, doing her best to fit around reyna’s sprawl. when reyna wakes up thirty minutes later, annabeth’s sitting on one corner of the bed, back up against the wall, knees pressed to her chest; her pencil traces the lithe curve of reyna’s spine for the second time.

“what’re you doing,” reyna asks, voice rough with sleep. her hair is everywhere.

annabeth flips the sketchpad shut. “nothing. you had enough beauty sleep?"

reyna presses her face back into the pillow with a groan. “no. leave me alone.”

annabeth reaches over and tentatively brushes some of her hair away from her face. “i love you,” she says, because she _can_.

reyna stills. annabeth goes back to sketching, and then: “mmf,” says reyna.

“what?”

“i...i love you too. i guess.”

annabeth grins, throwing the bad of paper on the floor and awkwardly moving down the mattress until she’s face-to-face with reyna. (or, rather, face-to-hair.) “you _guess_?”

reyna turns away from her, but annabeth can still see the flush creeping down her neck. “--know what i meant,” she says.

annabeth presses her face into reyna’s shoulder. “yeah, i guess.” reyna kicks at the sheets in retaliation then slumps into the mattress again. annabeth exhales, closing her eyes.

the world keeps turning; everything’s fine.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

a month later, the two of them head back to camp where reyna tells octavian off in front of all of the senators and cohort leader, then promptly resigns from her post.

they break ground on camp athens three years later, after annabeth’s fussed over the blueprints to her heart’s content. it becomes an extension of camp half-blood, built into the surrounding hillsides. it takes almost ten years to complete, even though it’s not near as big as new rome, and another year to entice people to actually live there but in the end it’s worth it, she thinks.

annabeth is appointed mayor and also teaches part time at the university they set up. she and reyna go back and forth between the east and west coasts for a while, but while she’s in new york, reyna works with percy at camp, teaching new recruits the finer points of swordsmanship.

the world keeps turning. everything’s fucking great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * feel free to come yell at me on my 


End file.
